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Health: Your Posture

by: Centron Corporation

Publication date: 1953

Usage: Public Domain

Topics: Health and hygiene

Digitizing sponsor: N/A

Young girl's mirror image teaches her fundamentals of good posture.

Shotlist

Ken Smith sez: Despite its title there's not much "health" in this film, and that's good; Centron abandoned the dull side of this topic to concentrate on the melodramatic -- social ostricism. And they did it with camera gimmickery! Good thinking!
The films opens at a party. "Adrelene" is an attractive young girl who is not having a good time. The Centron narrator confides to us that Adrelene "usually sits all alone, slumped in her chair in the corner," and that, "for some reason, she doesn't fit into the picture -- but she doesn't know why." "What is it," he poses, "that creates this unfavorable impression the others have of her?"
Then the fun begins. Adrelene goes home and begins admiring herself in her full-length bedroom mirror when, "What in the world? The mirror's gone crazy!" The mirror-image Adrelene puts her thumbs in her ears and wiggles her fingers. "You listen to ME for a change!" Adrelene's reflection yells at Adrelene. "I'm TIRED of helping you pretend! I can't show you how you REALLY look because when you're around me you put on an act! Do you want to see how you REALLY look?" The mirror-image Adrelene gives a demonstration of Adrelene's slouch; it's not pretty. "Yes, Adrelene, the mirror may have gone crazy, but for the first time it's telling you the truth," the narrator sighs. "Your POSTURE is your problem. What are you going to do about it?"
"I'LL tell you what I'm going to do," Adrelene yells back, pointing to the mirror. "I'm going to make YOU a sight that I want to see because I'M going to have good posture! You just wait and see, hmmph!" Her reflection watches Adrelene storm out of the room and smiles. "Attagirl, Adrelene!"
The dull health part of the film comes next, where "Dr. Martin" gives a lecture in Adrelene's science class about "stretched muscles" and unsupported "vital organs." But this doesn't last very long and as the film ends we can see that Adrelene has achieved good posture, increased her popularity, and gotten "the last laugh" at her upstart mirror. "You can't expect to correct posture defects overnight," the narrator cautions, as this film reaches its happy conclusion in just under 11 minutes.

POSTURE HEALTH SHOES EXERCISE REST APPEARANCE mirror surreal weird odd strange fantasy
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Addeddate: 2002-07-16 00:00:00

Closed captioning: no

Collectionid: 19619

Color: B&W

Country: United States

Identifier: HealthYo1953

Numeric_id: 507

Proddate: 1953

Run time: 10:20

Sound: Sd

Type: MovingImage

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Reviews

Reviewer: Dodsworth the Cat - - November 22, 2022
Subject: Talking Mirror

This film gets stars for the goofy mirror scene (ultra stiff dialogue with reverb) and some poor kid being given a ridiculous name by her parents. Maybe they misheard a Chuck Berry song. (Oh, it's 1953. Scrub that).
Centron was ahead of its time. The talking mirror would have made a great '60s sitcom.
More stars for conflicting advice. Exercise. EXERCISE! No! Rest. REST!
Somehow shoes affect the way you sit in a chair.
The film tells kids to have good posture then takes 8 1/2 minutes before asking the question "What is good posture."

Reviewer: ElenaJuarez - - February 18, 2020
Subject: actitud

0:22-3:25
el extrano comportamiento de la nina y el momento en el espejo

Reviewer: JSBejma - - April 21, 2017
Subject: No Wonder My Belly Sticks Out

I've been a sloucher all my life. I've always walked bent over forward. My shoes were hand me downs with worn down heels. Today, I have dickie do disease. (that's when your belly sticks out more than your dickie do)

Some words of wisdom here. I must've been home sick the day they ran this film at school. Oh well. Too late now.

Reviewer: ERD. - - April 30, 2015
Subject: Brings out good points

Made in 1953, this film geared for students in Junior high,
does an effective job in bringing out pointers about good posture. I enjoyed watching how the film portrayed the image of those youngsters in 1953 as clean cut and polite.

Reviewer: JayKay49 - - November 14, 2012
Subject: The Virtues of Posture - Again

Probably the tenth movie for kids on posture, but by this time they apparently had done away with that business about getting a tipped uterus if you sit slouched in a chair too much. Call it progress.

Reviewer: pkkms - - February 8, 2009
Subject: Your Name

Why do her friends smile and skicker at Adrelene? Is it her posture? No...it's her name which sounds vaguely like an over the counter decongestant. Upon realizing that, Adrelene begins to resent her parents for naming her that...which gave rise to a subsequent Centron film Why Resent Your Parents...

Reviewer: 23_skidoo - - July 20, 2007
Subject: Health: Your Posture

Part of the "Health" series brought to us from the Centron studios in Lawrence, Kansas. Like some Coronet films, this short is designed to lead kids to believe that your appearance should be your No. 1 priority if you want to make friends. The narrator tells us the sad story of Adrelene, who at the party is always the one who's sitting in the corner not saying anything. But unlike Sarah in "The Snob," Adrelene isn't full of herself--in fact she'd like to make friends---but she just can't seem to get along with anyone. She's absolutely repulsive to others because she doesn't stand up straight.

Adrelene doesn't get it, and looks at herself in the mirror. Suddenly, her reflection springs to life and tells her that she needs to develop good posture in order to become a successful person. Centron films are known for their cleverness, but this is the only halfway clever thing in this film. The rest of the short boringly stresses that posture is good for you socially, and also good for you health-wise. Adrelene begins refining her posture and we are left knowing that she'll probably be making a lot of new friends soon. The film is narrated by Jim Lantz, a radio announcer from Kansas City (narrator of 'Your Name Here Story,' bartender in 'The Vicious Circle'). According to Centron production records, "Your Posture" was produced by Art Wolf, directed by Herk Harvey, and written by Art Wolf and Trudy Travis, with photography by Norm Stuewe and sound and editing by Chuck Lacey. Not really worth your time.

Reviewer: Karma Hawk - - April 11, 2005
Subject: "the mirrors gone crazy"

Pretty basic social guidance film where Aderlene (I think that's her name) learns about good posture. As was common in these films their seems to be a message about how having bad posture will make you an outcast which is of course ludacrisly untrue. The mirorr actually only has a minor role, which is a shame since the girls reflection is the only one besides the muffled narrator that talks. the mirror is also the best part of the film but only actually lasts for a minute or so, with the rest just feeling like an infomercial. Warning: Don't slouch while watching this or else you'll actually feel your muscles and organs starting to cave in on you.

Reviewer: DrKnapp - - February 4, 2004
Subject: Stand up for mental health (?)

When a young girl has a psychotic break leading to confrontations with herself in a mirror, what's needed is antipsychotic medication, not posture coaching. This film takes a swan-dive off the deep end (with no water) and appears to be darn proud of it. This mindless romp through the implausible is delightfully bizarre.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - June 25, 2003
Subject: Loser girl, get some exercise!

Like 'Soapy The Germ Fighter', this film blames everything on one thing, and all would be well if you just... STOOD UP STRAIGHT. In what has to be the most preposterous name ever given to a girl in a film like this, 'Adrelene'(!!) wonders why the kids all ignore her at parties. Then, in a surreal device I've never seen before, her bedroom mirror double starts talking to her, saying it's her POSTURE. After THAT, it's a hell's half acre of what you should DO to maintain your posture! Exercise every day! Sit up straight! Get Enough Sleep! Soon, of course, Adrelene has PLENTY of friends because of this (sure) and we (and her mirror) are left with our moths wide open. Reccomended!

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